


secrets in the snow

by nightswatch



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Secret Relationship, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 03:29:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12974904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightswatch/pseuds/nightswatch
Summary: Two desert boys are in desperate need of some snow and hope to find some during the Aces' December East Coast roadie.





	secrets in the snow

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt from tumblr user @rhysiana: "Northern boys who play for a desert team getting stoked about a winter roadie"

“Okay, every single nutritionist in the world would want to murder me for this, but…” Jeff says as he walks into the living room with a huge shit-eating grin on his face. “It’s almost Christmas, so we deserve a treat.”

Kent looks up and finds Jeff looming over him with two cups in hand. He’s wearing his stupid candy cane pajama pants, because of course he is.

It’s not like Kent doesn’t enjoy the holidays, but it’s hard to get excited already when it’s only the beginning of December and it just doesn’t feel like Christmas. He frowns at Jeff. “What did you make?”

“Hot chocolate. With milk. None of that _just add hot water_ nonsense.”

Jeff hands him one of the mugs. There’s whipped cream on top and it looks like Jeff crushed some candy canes and sprinkled those over it as well.

“Wow,” Kent says. He wants to muster some enthusiasm. He really does. It still comes out like Jeff handed him leftovers from three days ago that already look like they’re about to develop a life of their own.

“I know,” Jeff says quietly. “I get it.” He sits down next to Kent, careful not to spill any of his hot chocolate.

“You get what exactly?” Kent grumbles.

Jeff is gonna give him the whole, _Yeah, whatever, you’re the Grinch, that’s okay_ thing, but that’s really not the point. Kent likes the holidays and he likes putting up a tree and he likes watching Kit destroy half of his ornaments and he likes the candy cane explosion on top of his hot chocolate. He’s not being Grinchy.

“It’s not the same in the desert,” Jeff says lowly. He leans a little closer and Kent meets him halfway without thinking too much about it. It’s just something he does now, even though this thing between them is still new, in a way.

Well, it’s been going on for a while, really, but it’s only become what it is right now very recently. Before they sat down and talked, there were only kisses behind closed doors, fleeting touches when no one was looking, one lie after another. It’s changed a bit. They’re still lying to everyone, but at least they’re not lying to themselves anymore.

Kent tells himself that it’s progress.

He refuses to call Jeff his boyfriend. Maybe that’s what he is, but boyfriends go out on dates and hold hands and bring their partner to team events. It doesn’t work like that for many people, though. It certainly doesn’t work like that when you’re a hockey player. It most definitely doesn’t work like that when you’re Kent Parson.

When you’re Kent Parson, your so-called boyfriend is your roommate and when you go out on a date, it’s dinner with a friend, and when you hold hands, even for just a second, you play it off as a prank, and when he comes to a team event, he’s just your teammate and nothing more. That’s how it works when you’re Kent Parson. And it is, incidentally, also how it works when you’re Jeffrey Troy.

Kent sighs, takes a sip of his hot chocolate and snuggles closer to Jeff. He’s surprised that the Grinch thing didn’t come up, but Jeff definitely has a point. It’s not the same in the desert.

Growing up in New York, Kent had his white Christmases. Or at least _cold_ Christmases. When he played in Canada none of that changed. Vegas, however, is in the middle of a desert hellscape and while Kent likes it well enough during the rest of the year and would insist that, yes, this is his home, in December he misses New York. He misses waking up to a world covered in frost and crunchy snow.

“Well,” Jeff says, turning to kiss the top of Kent’s head. “You know what the good news is…”

“I do?”

“We’re going on a four-game roadie before Christmas and the last two games are both in New York. New York’s gonna have some snow, right? Philly might have snow. You know what, maybe there’ll even be snow in DC.”

“Hopefully,” Kent says.

*

Kent is almost gleeful when he pulls his parka out of his closet the day before they leave for their East Coast roadie. They’re gonna go up the coast, from DC, to Philly, to New York.

There’s no snow in DC. Kent expected as much, but Jeff seems to have had different expectations. When they get to their hotel, Jeff glares up at the dark, overcast sky like it’s gravely disappointed him and shuffles inside, looking extraordinarily grumpy.

They have dinner at the hotel and go up to their room early. Kent has been sharing a room with Jeff for a while. It’s how this whole thing between them started in the first place, although Jeff has known that Kent is gay for a long, long time. Since long before Kent kissed him for the first time after a loss during playoffs.

Back in the day, Kent was just doing his duty as a captain and offered to be Jeff’s roommate to make sure he’d fit right into the team. All those years ago, he wasn’t sure if he’d like Jeff Troy. He’d go as far as saying that the feeling was mutual, but as soon as Jeff ended up on his line, they quickly became inseparable.

Now – several years later – Jeff is his still his roommate. They technically don’t have to share a room, but it’s convenient. The other guys think that Kent is just superstitious.

Up in their room, Jeff lets himself fall onto the bed that’s closest to the door. He usually takes the one by the window, so he’s technically in Kent’s bed right now, which means that he’s either exhausted and doesn’t want to move more than strictly necessary, or he’s waiting for Kent to join him. Going by the way Jeff is smiling at him, it’s most likely the latter.

Kent kicks off his shoes and flops down right on top of him. “You’re in my bed.”

“I am,” Jeff says, “because I know that you like it when I’m in your bed.”

Kent hums and kisses the corner of Jeff’s mouth because that’s all he can reach right now. He wishes he wasn’t too paranoid to actually let Jeff sleep in his bed during a roadie, but you never know what kinds of pranks their oh-so-clever teammates might come up with.

He knows that Jeff doesn’t like it. Kent doesn’t like it either, for that matter. He’s fallen asleep cuddled against Jeff so many times that he’s lost count, but whenever he wakes up during the night and realizes that he isn’t in his own bed, he always gets up and curls up in his own bed. Every now and then Jeff notices that he’s sneaking out of bed and grumbles at him, but he never tries to make him stay. Sometimes he doesn’t notice and just glares at Kent in the morning when their alarms wake them up.

“I can’t believe that there still isn’t any snow,” Jeff mutters and then huffs, probably because he got some of Kent’s hair in his mouth.

“They already had snow in New York a couple of days ago,” Kent says. “It’s gone now, but when we get there–”

Jeff wraps his arms around him. “Stop trying to make me feel better, I wanna be a grump.”

“Okay, whatever, there won’t be any snow ever, we’ll return to the desert without having seen a single snowflake and we’ll sadly stare at our Christmas tree and try to remember what it feels like when someone throws a snowball right at your face.”

“Why are you always so dramatic?” Jeff asks.

“Excuse you, I’m not the one who’s being dramatic here.” Kent sits up, smirking down at Jeff, who’s making a face like the entire world has betrayed him. Kent slowly runs his fingers through Jeff’s hair and the hint of a smile tugs at Jeff’s lips, which is really all Kent wanted to see. He leans back down to kiss him and says, “Okay, I’m fucking exhausted, I’m gonna go to bed.”

Jeff lets out a long-suffering sigh and slowly, very slowly, gets up and trudges into the bathroom. Kent follows him, tugging off his clothes as he goes.

He almost wants to say, _Whatever, Swoops, just sleep in my bed with me tonight._

He doesn’t. He never does.

*

“This is a conspiracy,” Jeff says as he stares out the window of their hotel room. “The universe hates me.”

There’s no snow in Philadelphia.

The weather forecast led them to believe that there might be snow on game day, but now that game day is here, it’s pretty obvious that all they’re getting is rain. It appears that it might be cold enough for snow tomorrow, but they’re leaving right after the game tonight to go to New York.

Jeff, still glaring at the city in the rain, says, “We’re jinxed.”

Maybe they are.

Kent was hoping for at least a few snowflakes. He was looking forward to walking through the snow, lights twinkling; he was hoping he’d finally get a hint of that holiday feeling. He’s not even sure what he’s looking for. Maybe it’s that strange stillness that comes with snow. He could use some of that.

He slowly walks up to Jeff and wraps his arms around him from behind. He pushes against Jeff, just a little, but Jeff gets the message quickly and turns around so Kent can tuck his head under his chin.

“Time for a nap,” Kent mumbles into Jeff’s hoodie. The thing is, in order to take a nap Kent would have to let go of Jeff and he’d have to curl up in bed on his own and it’d be cold and Jeff would be in the other bed and– Kent sighs, because this is going nowhere, and he hates that he’s so scared of anyone finding out, but he’s just not quite at a point where he doesn’t care. Sometimes he wants to say, _Screw it all_ , and just do whatever he wants to do. That feelings usually only lasts for a few seconds, though.

Jeff hugs him a little closer.

They could just lock the door and he could snuggle against Jeff and go the fuck to sleep.

Chances are that no one will ever find out – honestly, the players on this team are so close that no one even bats an eye when guys fall asleep on each other’s shoulder and cuddle a little bit. Sunny and Bennie skated over to the bench holding hands after their win in DC the other day. No one gave a shit. It was just another hashtag. #bffsinDC.

Still. He feels like it’s a risk he shouldn’t take.

They’ll be back in Vegas soon enough and it’ll be Christmas and maybe by that time Kent will actually be in the mood for it. He curls up in the bed by the door and Jeff curls up in the bed by the window.

When they wake up, it’s still raining, and Jeff grumbles about it. Kent gives him a kiss and Jeff stops grumbling for a while.

*

They win the game in Brooklyn. It’s a matinee game so Kent and Jeff head out for dinner with a bunch of the guys afterwards. So far, it’s been a pretty good road trip for the Aces and even though a few of their guys are out injured, they’re playing some great hockey, which is exactly what Kent told the media after the game.

During dinner, Kent and Jeff end up with Sunny between them, filming a video for Snapchat that Jeff unsuccessfully tries to hide from. Kent smirks at the camera because today is going great for him and says, “Our four-point guy Swoops is a little shy today.”

From behind Sunny, Jeff flips him off.

When they’re filing out of the restaurant, Jeff lets Sunny pass and waits for Kent, a secretive smile on his face.

“What?” Kent asks.

Jeff doesn’t reply and only hands over his phone. He has the weather app open. Eighty percent chance of snow at midnight.

“Nice,” Kent whispers and hands back Jeff’s phone. Maybe he lets his fingers linger against Jeff’s hand for a moment too long, but it’s not like the other guys are paying them any mind.

Jeff grins.

“So,” Sunny says, “where are we headed?” They’re staying in the city for another game the day after tomorrow, and they don’t have a curfew tonight, so Kent was expecting that the guys might want to go out after dinner.

“Back to the hotel,” Jeff says.

Sunny glares daggers at him. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, actually…” Kent says. He wouldn’t mind going out, but if Jeff is going back to the hotel, so is he. Not that he needs to spend every single second of every single day with Jeff, but if it’s really going to snow in a few hours, he’s not going to a club. He has a bunch of other ideas, though.

“Fine, have fun watching bad movies,” Sunny says and pats Jeff’s head as he goes and flags down a cab.

Jeff and Kent head back to the hotel with Freddy and Gabe in tow while Sunny and the rest of the guys are headed somewhere else. They have a good reason to celebrate; they won 8-2 this afternoon and this season is finally starting to go better for them.

They do end up finding the worst movie of all time on TV and Kent slips under the covers with Jeff, the movie soon nothing more than background noise. Every now and then Jeff stops kissing him and sits up and pulls the curtain aside to take a peek at what’s going on outside.

In the end, they miss when it starts.

They’re under the covers, trading lazy kisses, and when their movie is over and Jeff sits up to look outside again, Kent hovering behind him to peer over his shoulder, there’s already a thin layer of snow on the sidewalks and the snow is still coming down in thick flakes.

“Wanna go for a walk?” Kent asks.

It’s late, but he wants to be out there and Jeff clearly feels the same, because he immediately shoots up straight and grabs his boots. “Let’s go,” Jeff says, trying to put on both of his shoes at the same time.

Both of them bundled up, they make their way downstairs, grinning like they’re six years old and it’s Christmas morning and there’s a new pair of skates and a stick waiting under the tree.

They walk away from their hotel, down the block, huddled close to one another. Kent desperately wants to take Jeff’s hand. There’s barely anyone around and everyone who is out and about is rushing to get home.

Jeff stops in the middle of the sidewalk and watches a few snowflakes settle on his gloves with a dopey smile on his face. It’s moments like this one where it really hits Kent how much he loves Jeff Troy. He’s not sure why it surprises him. Maybe it’s because he spent years thinking that he’d never find anyone who’d love him no matter what, because he thought he wasn’t cut out for this, because he was so scared that he’d fuck it up all over again. He didn’t think he’d ever fall for anyone like this again.

Jeff’s breath clouds in the cold air when he lets out a long breath. “Finally.” He shakes the snow off his gloves. “Where do you wanna go?”

Kent shrugs. He doesn’t really care where they’re going. Before Jeff can start walking again, he catches him by the arm. “Wait,” Kent says and pulls Jeff’s hood right over his hat. Then he does the same with his own.

“What are you doing?”

“If no one can see that it’s us,” Kent says, “I can do _this_ …” He hooks his arm around Jeff’s and tugs him onwards.

It’s a bad idea.

Kent doesn’t care tonight.

Their hoods pulled low, they keep walking, the snow turning into slush on the sidewalk where people have walked. Kent knows that it’ll be time to head back soon; it’s late and it’s cold and the snow is slowly starting to let up.

“Wanna head back?” Jeff asks way too soon.

“Yeah, okay,” Kent says. He lets go of Jeff’s arm and says, “Wait.”

Jeff, his face half hidden under his hood, looks down at him, vaguely amused. “Yeah?”

Kent glances up and down the street. It’s just them and two people walking away in the other direction. No one’s looking. No one would see if Kent would, say, kiss Jeff right now.

“What?” Jeff asks, his voice soft now.

Kent grabs Jeff’s hood and tugs gently. Jeff leans down until they’re basically hidden under both their hoods.

“Are you gonna kiss me?” Jeff asks.

“Do you want me to?”

Jeff doesn’t reply right away.

Kent understands. He doesn’t even know if he wants to kiss Jeff right here, right now. Okay, no, he does want to, but that doesn’t mean that he should. He’s just full of bad ideas tonight.

A few seconds tick by, then Jeff says, “Let’s head back.”

Kent bumps his nose against Jeff’s and pulls away. “Yeah, let’s head back.”

They don’t talk on the way back, and Kent doesn’t hook his arm around Jeff’s again, but Jeff does walk into him every now and then, entirely on purpose, grinning at Kent every single time it happens.

Back in their room, they unbundle themselves, tripping over boots, laughing as their hats and gloves and scarves all end up on the floor. Jeff’s cheeks are pink from the cold and he looks absolutely gleeful. He reaches out to ruffle Kent’s hair and then pulls him closer, his fingers cold against the back of Kent’s neck when he kisses him.

“I owed you that one, I guess,” Jeff says.

Kent huffs. “You don’t owe me shit.”

“I know that, it’s just…”

“Yeah, I get it,” Kent says. “I wasn’t seriously gonna kiss you out there anyway, I mean, that would have been…” An absolute disaster. Someone could have seen, and then what? You can explain away walking really close together, but a kiss in the middle of the street? Nah.

One day, he just won’t care. He already knows that at some point the hiding and the lying will be too much for him and he’ll do something stupid and he’s scared of how sure he is that it’ll happen.

Jeff kisses his forehead. “We should go to bed.”

“We should…” Kent says, but he doesn’t let Jeff pull away just yet. “Wait.”

Jeff waits patiently as Kent goes and locks the door, pulls off his clothes, and slips into bed in his boxers and a shirt. He scoots all the way to the left of the bed, making room for Jeff.

“Parse…” Jeff says. He chews on his bottom lip, hovering next to Kent’s bed. “Are you sure?”

“I can always kick you out if I change my mind.”

Jeff rolls his eyes, but he eventually climbs into bed with Kent, still a little cold from their walk in the snow. Kent fumbles with the light switches next to his bed and, after a few tries, manages to turn them all off. Jeff laughs softly into his ear.

“Shush,” Kent says and snuggles against Jeff.

Jeff hums contently. “I can’t wait to drop snow down the backs of the guys’ jackets tomorrow.”

Kent snorts.

“Including yours,” Jeff says.

“You would do that to your boyfriend? Really?”

Jeff is weirdly quiet after that and it takes Kent a moment to realize what he just said. He’s probably never called Jeff his boyfriend out loud before. Really, he hasn’t, because he refused to. And now it just slipped out and it didn’t even sound wrong, he didn’t even notice.

“Fucking rude,” Kent goes on, hoping this won’t turn into a Very Serious Conversation.

“Yeah…” Jeff says eventually. “I’d do that to my boyfriend.”

Kent nudges him. “Little shit.”

Jeff nudges him back. “Please, you’d do the same thing to me.”

Kent laughs. “Okay, yeah, I would.”

He will.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are very much appreciated :)
> 
> I'm @zimmermaenner on tumblr if you want to drop by!


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